Improvement in pottery-kilns



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Patented Bct. 10, 1876.

W. S. CGLWELL. POTTERYKILNS.

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JAMES R OSGCOD 8 CO BOSTON 3 Sheets-Sheetz, W. S. COLWELL.

' POTTERY-KILNS. No.183,140 4 Patented Oct.10.1876

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. munsyses 'Inmnr WMM JM a C@ JAMES RUGOOD Y, Ci" EOS-VGN 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

W. S. COLWELL. FUTTEBY KILNS No.183,140, Patented Oct. IO, 1876.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WILLIAM S. GOLWELL, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN POTTERY-KILNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. lS3.,l40, dated October 10, 1876; application filed September 4, 1F76.

1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. CoLwELL,

v of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pottery-Kilns and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. e My improvement relates to the construction of furnace and kilns foi` drying, baking, and burning pottery-wares 5 and consists in so constructing the furnace and kiln, and so combining them together, that the wares placed in the kiln can be dried, baked, and burned with uniformity in all parts of it, and the surface of the wares glazed or vitrilied, giving a luniform color to them, and imparting to the wares an even vitreous body, said results being accomplished through the medium of the furn nace, kiln, fuel, and heat, operating as hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.-

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of my specification, VFigure l is a pery spective view of my improvement in potterykilns. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the kiln at line y of ligure. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the kiln at line y of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the kiln at line y" of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a side view of the kiln, representing a portion of the wall of a furnace cut away for the purpose of showing the face of the bridge-wall and flame and heat spreaders. Fig. 7 is a section of the bottom, at the point between the dotted lines 2 in Fig. 3.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the kiln, and B the furnace connected therewith. The furnaces are each provided with a grate, C, and a hollow bridge-wall, D, having a series of openings, e, for the outflow 0f air, which commingles with the flame and gases passing from the furnace. Beyond the bridge-wall D is a hollow spreader-wall, f, having a series of openings, g, for the outflow of air, which commingles with the llame and gases after passing over the bridge-wall D, and 'while entering the ues l and m. To the right and left of the hollow spreader-wall fare spreaders a, which incline upward toward the bottom o of the kiln. The spreaders a form the bottom of the circular liue l. The bridgewall D is supplied with air through the medium of lines h, and the spreader-wallfis supplied with air through the medium of lues i. (Indicated by dotted lilies in Fig. 2.) The furnace fire-chambers are each furnished with a door, j, susceptible of being elevated vertically by a ratchet-lever, k', the object of elevating the doors being for the purpose of causing a current of cold air to pass under the lower edge of the door and over the surface of the re, so that the air iiowing out through the openings e of the bridge-wall D and the openings g of the spreader-wally, and the inflowing current of air under the door and over the surface of the lire, will cause counter-currents which will thoroughly commingle the air and the gases of the furnaces as they pass into the iues land m of the kiln A. The ash-pit of each of the furnaces B is provided with a door, n, which door is used for cutting off or regulating the supply of air to the tire-grates C. The furnaces B are furnished with openings o and p, (commonly called peep-holes,) which are for the purpose of observing the condition of the lire, flame, and heat in the furnaces and flues l and m. Through the medium of the openings o the operator can, in this case, look through the furnaces and lines m into the opposite furnace.

The openings p enable the operator to observe the condition of the circular tlues l, which are provided each with two sliding gates or valves, b, which are used for regulating the ilow of heat through the ues land for directing it at will to the flues m and toward the center of the kiln. The bottom o of the kiln A is supported upon a series of hollow piers, p', each of which is divided into two compartments, q and r, which are supplied with air through the medium of flues w and oo. The line w conveys air into the com# partment q, and the flue or conveys air into the compartment r. The compartments q and 1' communicate with the ues l and m by means of small openings s near the top of the walls of the piers p. The openings s are protected by projections c, which will prevent the glazing matter which often flows down through the openings in the bottom o of the kiln from closing them. The fines l and m are crowned with arches (shown in Fig. 2) which help to support the bottom o of the kiln A. In the bottom o of the kiln Aare a large number of openings, t, which communicate with the lines l and m. Under the bottom o are spreaders lu. and fv, which are inclined upward from the side walls of the ues l and m toward the under surface of the bottom o. By means of Vthis arrangement of spreaders u and t the flame and heat which enter the tlues l and m are evenly distributed to the openings tin the bottom o, thereby transmitting said flame and heat with uniformity to all parts of the interior of the kiln. The top or crown of the kiln A is provided with a series of vents, e', for the escape of the gases and heat. d represents the door leading into the kiln, and is used when placing the wares into the kiln or taking them out of it. f represents a series of openings, furnished with doors, which openings communicate with the circular ues l, and are used for salting the kiln, and are also used for examining the condition of the ues l. In kilns used for burning large and heavy wares a blast device may be used in combination with the furnaces and the ues h, t', w, and x, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 5, in which A' represents a fan (but other blastgenerator may be used) connected to a pipe, B', which encircles the kiln,and from branches C lead to the furnaces B, and to the ues h, fi, w, and a'. The branch pipes C should be furnished with valves for regulating the ilow of air to the furnaces and dues.

By combiningablast with the kiln, as hereinbefore described, the heat can be increased to any desired degree and forced up in it, and so packed that it will be uniform in all parts of it, which is the desideratum long desired in the process of burning or baking potterywares, for by causing the heat to be evenly distributed throughout all parts of the kiln, the wares will be evenly burned or baked, and the color and glazing will be uniformresults which cannot be obtained in the absence of a uniform degree of heat in all parts of the kiln. The other advantages derived from the construction of the furnaces and kiln hereinbefore described, andthe application of an air-blast, will be apparent to the skilled operator of pottery-kilns without further description. My improvements are adapted to furnaces, kilns, and blasts having either up or down draft, and are also adapted to the luse of any of the known fuels.

Having thus described my improvements and their advantages, what I claim as of my invention is- 1. In a pottery-kiln, the furnace B, in combination with the circular flues l and the lues m, substantially as herein described, and Vfor the purpose set forth.

2. In a pottery-kiln, a blast-generator, in combination with the air-chambers q and 'r, said chambers communicating with the flues land m, substantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth.

. 3. In a pottery-kiln, a blast-generator in combination with the ues l and m, substantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth. Y

4. In a pottery-kiln, the hollow piers p' having air-dues w and n; and compartments q and r, in combination with the ues Z and m, substantially as herein, described, and for the purpose set forth. V

5. In a pottery-kiln, the circular ues l, provided with valves b, in combination with the ues m, substantially asherein described, and for the purpose set forth.

6. In a pottery-kiln, the spreaders a and f, in combination with the ilues l and m, sub'- stantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a pottery-kiln, the spreaders u and lv, in combination with the apertures t in the bottom o, substantially as herein described, for the purpose set forth.

8. In a pottery-kiln, the projections c for protecting the openings` s vcommunicating with the compartments q and r, substantially as herein described, and for the purpose set forth.

W. S. COLWELL. l

Witnesses:

JAMES J. JOHNSTON, A. C. JOHNSTON. 

